Short answer: Pick Systeme.io if you want the lowest cost and room to grow: its free plan covers 2,000 contacts, and paid plans start at $17/month with unlimited email sends and 0% transaction fees on every tier. Pick Kartra if you sell a premium program, want polished page templates and built-in SMS, and are happy paying more for that. For most beginners and solo creators, Systeme.io is the better value; Kartra earns its price once you have a proven offer and a growing list.
Affiliate disclosure: the Systeme.io link on this page is an affiliate link, so BizStackPicks may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you sign up through it. The Kartra link is a plain link and we earn nothing from it. See our Affiliate Disclosure.
Quick comparison
| Systeme.io | Kartra | |
|---|---|---|
| Free option | Free plan, no card, never expires | No free plan; 30-day money-back guarantee (the page also shows a ’14 days free’ item we couldn’t tie to a plan) |
| Entry paid plan | Startup $17/mo | Essentials $59/mo ($52/mo billed annually) |
| Contacts on entry paid plan | 5,000 | 500 |
| Email sends | Unlimited on every plan | 10,000 emails/SMS a month on Essentials; unlimited on higher tiers |
| Transaction fees | 0% on every plan | 5% on Essentials; 0% on higher tiers |
| Courses | 1 free, 5 on Startup | 1 membership or course on Essentials; unlimited on the ~$99 tier and above |
| SMS | Not listed on its pricing page | Included (counts toward the email/SMS allowance) |
| Booking calendar | Listed on pricing page (check plan limits) | Yes (Calendars) |
| Going over your contact limit | Upgrade when you need to | Automatic upgrade to the next tier plus a mid-cycle reconciliation fee |
Prices and limits come from each vendor’s official pricing page as of October 2026. They change often, so confirm before you buy.
Pricing, plan by plan
Systeme.io has four plans, set mainly by contact count:
- Free: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course, 1 blog, 1 custom domain, unlimited email sends. Limits elsewhere are tight: 1 automation rule, 1 email campaign, and 500 students.
- Startup ($17/mo): 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses.
- Webinar ($47/mo): 10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses, plus evergreen webinars.
- Unlimited ($97/mo): unlimited contacts, funnels, courses, and automation rules.
Every Systeme.io plan includes unlimited sub-accounts, Stripe and PayPal payments, an affiliate program you can run for your own products, and 0% transaction fees.
Kartra starts higher and scales faster:
- Essentials ($59/mo, or $52/mo billed annually): 500 contacts, 10,000 emails and texts a month, 1 product, 1 course or membership, 5 pages, 30 Kartra AI uses, and a 5% fee on your sales.
- Mid tier (listed at $99/mo; the page’s labeling is unclear and we couldn’t see an annual price): 2,500 contacts, unlimited products and courses, and no transaction fees.
- Growth ($229/mo, or $189/mo billed annually): 12,500 contacts, unlimited email and SMS, 0% transaction fees, 3 custom domains, automations, and surveys and quizzes.
- Professional ($549/mo, or $429/mo billed annually): 25,000 contacts and everything in Growth. (Affiliate management, helpdesk, API access, and agency capacity appear to start at Growth per the plan table; confirm on the live page.)
The key gap: at 2,500 contacts, Systeme.io’s Startup plan is $17/month while Kartra’s listed tier is about $99/month. At 10,000 contacts, it’s $47 versus $229 (Kartra’s Growth plan, which covers up to 12,500). These are list prices on monthly billing; plan features differ, so it isn’t a like-for-like comparison.
Where Systeme.io wins
- Cost at every list size. The free plan is genuinely usable for testing an offer, and the paid tiers undercut Kartra by a wide margin.
- No cut of your sales. 0% transaction fees on every plan, including free (your payment processor’s fees still apply). Kartra’s entry plan takes 5% of each sale.
- Unlimited email. You never count sends, which matters once you email your list several times a week.
- Predictable upgrades. You choose when to move up. Kartra says that if your lead count passes your plan’s limit, you’re automatically moved to the next tier and charged a mid-cycle reconciliation fee.
Where Kartra wins
- Built-in SMS. Kartra lets you send texts alongside email from the same campaigns; we didn’t find native SMS on Systeme.io’s pricing page.
- Page design and templates. Kartra advertises hundreds of ready-made templates and a drag-and-drop editor aimed at polished sales pages (we haven’t tested either tool’s editor).
- Advanced features at the top. Helpdesk, live chat, funnel analytics, API access, and agency capacity come with the higher tiers.
- HIPAA. Kartra’s pricing-page FAQ says it is HIPAA compliant at no extra cost (we haven’t verified this), which can matter for health and wellness coaches (check whether your situation needs a signed agreement).
Who should choose which
- Just starting, under 2,000 contacts: Systeme.io free. There’s no reason to pay while you validate an offer.
- Course creator or coach with a list under 10,000: Systeme.io Startup or Webinar. You’ll pay a fraction of Kartra’s price for the same core jobs.
- Premium coaching or membership business that needs SMS and polished pages: Kartra, starting at the tier with 0% fees so you don’t give up 5% of every sale.
- Health or wellness business with HIPAA concerns: Look closely at Kartra and confirm the details with them.
Bottom line
In our view Systeme.io is the smarter default for most small online businesses because it is cheaper at every list size we compared, never takes a cut of your sales, and lets you start free. Kartra is worth a look once SMS, premium templates, or helpdesk features are part of how you sell, and when your revenue easily covers a $99 to $229 monthly bill.
Start Systeme.io free · See Kartra plans
Related: Systeme.io free plan limits · GoHighLevel alternatives for a solo consultant · About BizStackPicks
Last checked: 2026-10-17. Prices and limits come from each vendor’s official pricing page on that date and can change.